Why is Learning to Read Difficult?

Learning to read is an exciting time for children! It truly opens up a whole new world. Parents soon learn that they can no longer even spell out words in front of their child when they need to discuss something without their child understanding.

But what happens when learning to read is exhausting and difficult?

Not everyone has the same level of patience when it comes to teaching children to read. However, even if you don’t think you have the patience to sit and instruct, perhaps you can help by playing some simple listening games.

That’s right! Listening games!

That’s what I call them when I work with a young child. It can be fun, and sometimes I find that an older sibling nearby wants to start participating too. They’re like a sort of brain teaser—especially for a child that finds them a challenge to complete.

I’m talking about phonological awareness activities.

Phonological awareness relates to chunking a word (as in syllables) or even producing rhyming words. Phonemic awareness is quite similar but a bit more challenging as it involves breaking a word apart into individual sounds. A word like “FLIP” has only one syllable, but it has 4 sounds (or phonemes).

If your child is struggling with putting sounds together and beginning to read, it could VERY WELL BE the lack of phonological or phonemic awareness.

I have just the thing for you!

So, find a quiet spot. Face your child. Tell them you are going to play a listening game and try some of these activities. STOP when you come to a difficult task. That is where you need to hang out for a while and practice the same task with different words over the next few weeks to a month. Then, revisit. Some of these you can do on the go. Some of these you may want to use blocks or pennies to represent each letter sound and move it as you say the sounds slowly.

All the directions are there! It might also interest you to have a rhyming sort. You can find one here.

I taught my children how to read using ABC magnets on the side of the refrigerator. Would you like to know how?

Check out my course, “A Busy Mom’s Guide for Teaching Your Child to Read.”

So have you possibly skipped some foundations in the process of learning to read? Let me know in the comments.

Do you have an idea for a blog post?

Email Rebecca@TheParentTeacherBridge.com

Before you go, be sure to grab a copy of my “5 Quick Tips to Immediately Help Your Struggling Reader.”